SHAC Meeting Minutes
October 23, 2012
Welcome: Donna Kuhnel at 12:16pm
Please review the minutes from last meeting and we will get started shortly.
Introductions:
Dr. Brian Gottardy
Dr. Scheffler
Mr. Jerry Comalander
Ms. Janna Hawkins
Ms. Shannon Grona
Introductions of attendees around the table
List of Attendees:
Sue Bernstein, Amy Brown, Jerry Comalander, Melinda Cox, Joy Culpepper, Debbie Freno, Sharon
Glosson, Dr. Gottardy, Shannon Grona, Janna Hawkins, Laura Horansky, Denise Jones, Britt Klein, Donna
Kuhnel, Amanda Long, Katie Mahoney, Mickey Maxwell, Melissa Munsell, Rachel Naylor, Maria Perez,
Rebecca Ramos, Tony Rodriguez, Ashley Rodriguez, Katherine Sanchez-Rocha, Brenda Saunders, Dr.
Scheffler, Tyler Shoesmith, Melanie Slaga, Coleinette Smith, Yvonne Soliz-Valdez, Elizabeth Tobias,
Stephen Tovar, Katherine Velasquez, Brian Walter, Leticia Williams, Julie Copeland
Minutes Review:
No discussion about the minutes
Motion to approve: Katherine Velasquez (first), Katherine Sanchez-Rocha (second)
SHAC Notebook
Everyone has been given a SHAC Notebook. Please bring it with you to every meeting. All handouts and
other materials will be hole-punched to insert in your notebook. The second tab will contain the
member list once it has been approved by the Board next month.
By-Laws are located in tab three of your notebook. Melissa Munsell read Section 2 of the by-laws.
Recommendations may be given by the SHAC but may be overturned by Executive Staff.
Conflict of Interest: If you have a conflict of interest over any matter at hand please abstain from voting
on that matter. For example, if we are voting on fundraising for the American Heart Association and you
work for the American Heart Association, please abstain from voting on this decision.
Superintendent Presentation:
Dr. Gottardy
High school students schedules are becoming tighter and tighter. In the past few years, we have moved
from an AB schedule to a 7-period day.
We are addressing new requirements for EOC exams. Every child is required to receive remediation if
they have not done well on the EOC exams. There is not a lot of room in the schedule to get this in.
One issue that came to his attention early in his superintendence was nervousness and angst about
Healthy Lifestyles (HL). HL is required by the Board of Trustees as a graduation requirement. This course
is a combination of Health and Foundations of Personal Fitness. The angst that he has heard is that the
state does not require Health but NEISD does. Physical Education is mandated by the Board of Trustees.
We are looking at ways to make the schedule more flexible and pick up remediation requirements.
Since we don’t require the course according to the state, we are going to remove it as a required course.
Students who are enrolled in Pre-AP courses can test out of courses and earn college credit while still in
high school. We are talking about changes for the freshman entering 2013 and after. HL will still be a
requirement for current students because of rank. We will need to teach Healthy Lifestyles for at least
three more years to fulfill this requirement.
This change for freshman entering 2013 and after will go to the Board of Trustees on October 29th for
the first reading and November 5th for the second reading during special Board meetings.
Graduation Requirement will still be 1.0 PE credit and .5 Health credit.
Why are we requiring health? It is very important for students. Deleting the health course was never on
the agenda. We have a great Sex Ed curriculum that begins in 3rd grade. There is also a 9th grade course
in Sex Ed. We don’t want to move this out into another course so we need to keep Health.
We are looking to offer more courses at the middle school level including Health.
In closing, many people will question this decision and think it was made for financial reasons. We are
not after anyone losing positions because of these changes.
We are trying to make it easier for students to graduate. We are still working out the details.
Please email me if you have any questions about the changes.
Questions/ Discussion after presentation:
Katherine Velasquez: Will there no longer be an HL class? Will it still be year-long? Are we requiring less
PE? Will students still have the same credit requirements?
Dr. Gottardy: Healthy Lifestyles is Health and PE mixed where students will have Health one day PE the
next. If you are in a PE substitution, you will not need to take traditional PE to fulfill PE requirements.
Katherine: You haven’t taken out PE or Health?
Dr. Gottardy: We are condensing Health back into one semester. It’s not impossible to go back to what
we had.
SHAC member: What content are we losing?
Melissa: We will not lose any Health TEKS. We will just remove the Foundations of Personal Fitness.
Katherine: Teacher could assign PE as homework. Encourages teachers to make PE still part of the class.
Melissa: That is what made HL so special.
Melinda Cox: We are making more room for academics but reducing PE. They are in band or extracurricular activity. Seems to me that we are defeating the purpose to be active on a daily basis.
Katherine Velasquez: Include PE in the Health class. We could also have intramurals somehow. Or have a
drop everything and walk similar to the elementary schools with drop everything and read.
Brenda Saunders: Is it financially feasible to keep HL for students who are not in a PE substitution. What
is percentage of kids that are in AP classes?
Dr. Gottardy: Have to keep same grad requirements for all students. We cannot require the class for
some students but not others. Band and Athletics students are getting their PE credit in their
substitution class.
Katherine: May substitute one semester health and one semester PE. Can option still be there for HL and
take one year long?
Dr. Gottardy: That is what is currently happening. A student takes Healthy Lifestyles and it counts for the
required .5 Health credit and .5 PE credit.
Brenda: HL is perfect for kids not in PE sub.
Katherine: More like what actual life is like instead of everyday PE.
Melanie: We have to find time to remediate kids. Students have to make choices. It is a hard choice but
sometimes they have to be done.
Melinda: We have to have well rounded students.
Katherine: Dance or ROTC does not have to take both PE and PE sub.
Amanda Long: PE should still be a requirement. Brain does not function in the same level without PE.
Sitting for 8 hours does students a disservice. 8th grade option should not be an option because then
they don’t get Health in High School.
Solis-Valadez: It will be tough to get remediation in schedule since it is a 7 period day. Physical Activity is
good but we also need to focus on the student’s graduation.
Tobias: There are other areas in the environment of the child that can help with getting kids active.
Parents can be active so kids can emulate them. Community partners can help you create an
environment so you don’t feel like you are taking a big hit and walking away from Health. Active kids
have higher scores. It needs to be combo not just one or the other. Really like extra credit for health
courses.
Dr. Gottardy: The student who is in band or athletics, are already physically active. The students who are
not are required to take PE.
Melinda: But the requirement has gone from 1.5 PE to 1.0 PE?
Melissa: The requirement changed about 2 years prior. It is currently 1.0 PE credits and will remain so
because of TEA requirements.
SHAC Member: Are there clubs with HS? There are many clubs in elementary school where students
don’t have to compete.
Tobias: We should expand on TEAM NEISD
Dr. Gottardy: Recommends Off Campus PE.
Melissa: Actually Off-Campus PE is only for students who are competing at a National to Olympic level
and must train at least 15 hours per week.
Denise Jones: Campus can also work with PTA use other resources.
Sue Bernstein: Applauds the PE department on Healthy Lifestyles. Is there data that the course made a
difference? Worried about the change? Applaud innovative ideas and show impact on students.
Donna: Include physical activity in remediation classes since those students need the physical activity
the most.
Katherine Sanchez: Rocha: Is Campus Based Healthy Lifestyles still offered during the summer? Push
more courses during the summer to get credits.
Long: It will help keep students on track.
Dr. Scheffler: We are thinking about implementing Rachel’s idea of keeping Healthy Lifestyles as an
elective. Trying to get everything into a 7 period day is very difficult. We are in no way trying to minimize
the importance of health.
Brenda: In their Senior year, is it easier?
Many voices: No. It is still just as difficult.
Dr. Scheffler: There are many students who go Pre-AP and AP all the way through high school.
Brenda: What percentage of students are in Pre-AP and AP courses?
Dr. Gottardy: A growing number of students.
Dr. Scheffler: Kids are in heavy competition with each other and we are trying to help them compete.
We are also working with UIL Fine Arts rules. We need to work with Mr. Comalander since he is the UIL
guru.
Tobias- We need to preserve college-bound vision.
Dr. Scheffler- We want to give students the choice and be well-prepared for any choice that they make.
He served nine years as a principal and course rigor is not what it was. Curriculum has placed so much
stress on kids.
Amanda Long: Should we look at what is being implemented?
Tony: My concern is about same kids/ parents will participate that always participate. EOC is a big slap
in the face. Semester exam, course grade is based on two tests. Don’t overreact.
Department Presentation:
PE & Health
Melissa: Presents flowchart about our courses right now. She reads PE mission statement.
Programs in our department: K-12 Physical Education, Health, Sports Medicine, Healthy Lifestyles,
Human Sexuality 6-12, Coordinated School Health (CATCH)
Please read over hand out.
On Flowchart:
Bottom left K-5 PE & Health
6-8 they need 4 semesters of PE and 1 semester of health. Three semesters are one per year and fourth
is flexible. Can get PE substitutions with athletics or Off-Campus PE.
High School: local .5 credit of Health and .5 PE with HL
Left one more .5 credit of PE or PE substitution to get before they graduate.
Currently the exit course for our students is Healthy Lifestyles.
Definition: Exit course- the last course that will be taken by ALL students in NEISD.
Changes for 2013-2014 school year:
K-5 PE stays the same. Move to 6th grade Health , 4 semesters of PE but students may take at any time.
Move into High School, still be able to fulfill .5 PE or can get high school health requirement in middle
school.
Exit course for PE courses would be 5th grade and exit course for health would be high school health.
Questions/ Discussion after presentation:
SHAC Member: When can they start taking PE substitutions?
Melissa: Athletics starts at 7th grade level.
Mr. Comalander: If not in PE substitute, they need to take PE. Physical Education courses will continue
to be offered.
Katherine Velasquez- confused by the term exit course.
SHAC Member- They are not changing amount of PE required, just letting PE sub be used for all PE
credits.
Amanda Long: Is it a good idea to let them finish it in 8th grade? How do you verify what they are doing
in high school?
Melissa: If doing Off-Campus PE, then PE & Health tracks that. As far as, the first question, it might need
to be talked about amongst the group.
Melissa: Parents will have to make decision about when to take PE and Health.
Tony: don’t want to fall into same as last year. Last year when HL was implemented, his son was not able
to take it during the summer. Will parents of incoming 9th graders have the same issue as the incoming
9th graders when HL was implemented and not get the option to take advantage of the high school
credit courses at the 8th grade level?
Melissa: Parents of incoming 9th graders can’t HL take at 8th grade level but the next year’s students will.
Since it is a requirement we will still offer Campus-Based Healthy Lifestyles during the summer.
Donna: Would you like to meet next week to gather thoughts?
Tony: Should we push it back to affect the incoming 8th graders instead of the incoming 9th graders?
Brenda: I don’t feel I have enough to make a recommendation.
Sue: What is the group’s role in this process?
Donna: We have to give our recommendation as a group to the Board of Trustees. We vote on it today
and see how many are in favor and not if favor. We can also take time come in next week to make a
decision then.
Rachel: Our decision goes to Executive Staff and then to the Board of Trustees.
Sue: So our decision may influence but does not have a real impact on Executive Staff’s decision?
Rachel: There will be many factors. But the Board has to take the recommendation of the SHAC and then
the elected Board makes the final decision.
Brenda: There are kids who are involved in everything and then there are students who are not involved
in anything.
Brian: We have to lead our children by example and lead our own Healthy Lifestyles. We can’t make
them do physical activity.
Brenda: But not every parent is like you and that is the parent we need to reach.
Tony: Move to postpone vote. We should submit questions and have another meeting next week.
Tobias: Would like to summarize what is at the table for decision before make a recommendation.
Rachel: We will summarize and email out to SHAC members. We need to take a vote on emergency
meeting for next week. If Monday is not good, we can do later in the week.
Vote for meeting time:
Monday, October 29th at noon: 13 votes
Tuesday, October 30th at noon: 17 votes
Thursday, November 1st at noon: 10 votes
Emergency Meeting
Tony move to have emergency SHAC meeting on October 30, 2012
Second: ?
Postpone recommendation to Tuesday as well
All say I
No nay
Motion Carries
Announcements
Step Out Walk for Diabetes is November 3rd. We will email out information.
HEB Community Challenge is still going strong. San Antonio is still in 1st place.
Rebecca Ramos: This is Red Ribbon Week. Please pick up a red ribbon if you would like.
Any other new business?
Minutes will be sent out to all members.
Other Discussion:
Vote online?
Online/ Absentee voting: According to the SHAC By-Laws, absentee voting is not allowed.
Mr. Comalander: Approximately half of the students in high school are involved in a PE substitution
course. That leaves a good portion of students that are not in these courses.
Slaga: Happy note from Region 20 Teen Health and Wellness event. Teen pregnancy is down is 41-47%
past 20 years in Bexar County!
Donna: Meeting is adjourned and will see you on Tuesday, October 30, 2012 at 12:15pm.
1:36pm
What is the current high school graduation requirement and is it changing?
Same PE/Health requirements at High School level, 1.0 PE credit and .5 Health needed for graduation.
The requirements are not changing.
Is Healthy Lifestyles going away?
Healthy Lifestyles course may still be offered as an elective.
If a student is in a PE substitution class, how will this affect them?
If you are in a PE substitution class, Athletics, Band, etc., you will not need to take a traditional PE course
to acquire the 1.0 PE credit required for graduation; your PE substitution course meets the 1.0
graduation requirement.
What will happen to the high school Health class?
Condensing classroom Health component back into one semester which is what we had in years prior.
There will be less time to go in depth into content area; a lot of information that is required to be taught
in Health will have to be covered in a shorter amount of time.
What content are we losing?
We will remove the Foundations of Personal Fitness TEKS information from the Health course. We are
still required to teach all of the Health Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Are parents allowed to speak at a special board meeting?
All meetings are open to the public, but no one is allowed to sign-up to speak at special board meetings.
Is it okay that the Board will not have our SHAC recommendation before the 1st Reading on October
29, 2012?
Although it is not ideal, the Board will have the SHAC recommendation before the 2nd Reading [final
decision] on November 5, 2012.